In 1859, placer miners and prospectors in the western Great Basin made two
remarkable strikes of gold and silver ore breaching a mountain's slope near
Virginia City. It was the culmination of regional discoveries and excitement
that began a decade before with the famed California Gold Rush of 1849. The
1859 discovery in the Great Basin provides an epilogue for the California
Gold Rush. It was not so much the end of a story as it was an indication of
how future mining would change an entire region.

The Comstock Lode, as people soon called the ore body, was distinct in the
ways that it influenced subsequent development in the American West. First,
the Comstock Mining District quickly became home to deep underground,
hardrock mining. Although some California operations had also taken this
direction, the Comstock established approaches to technology, corporate
investment, and community growth that were imitated internationally for the
next 50 years. For example, the Comstock had a huge labor force of salaried
professionals, breaking from the California pattern of thousands of
independent mining entrepreneurs digging for themselves in small groups.

Aerial view of
Virginia City in 1877Photo
courtesy of Terri McBride

The Comstock was unusual and will always be famous for the presence of
silver as well as gold, and especially for the spectacular amount of wealth
it generated. Miners retrieved what today would be billions of dollars in
riches; the mines in and around Virginia City produced one-half of the
nation's silver up until 1886. However, corporations were necessary to
exploit a resource requiring an immense, complex infrastructure. This meant
that only a few people ultimately benefited most from the Comstock mines, but
that did not inhibit a worldwide fascination with the discovery. In addition,
during the flush times money flowed freely and many enjoyed the prosperity.

Unlike the small settlements throughout the California Gold Country, the
Comstock District was a highly urbanized, industrial setting. Again, this was
the model that all future mining developments generally followed. By the
early 1870s, the mining district's capital, Virginia City, together with its
smaller neighbor, Gold Hill, reached a population of nearly 25,000, becoming
one of the nation's larger communities.

Comstock Lode
"King" John Mackay made a fortune in the Comstock mining boom Photo
courtesy of Terri McBride

Part of the 19th-century interest in the Comstock resulted from the
millionaires it propelled into the international limelight. Wealthy men, from
George Hearst and John Mackay to Adolph Sutro and William Ralston, made their
fortunes while working or investing in the mines around Virginia City. The
mines also spawned the successes of William Stewart, John P. Jones, William
Sharon, and James Fair, each of whom served in the U.S. Senate.

Much of the historical treatment of the Comstock has focused on the
impressive technology, the immense wealth, and the men at the center of both.
Nevertheless, Virginia City and its mining district were exceedingly complex,
attracting immigrants from throughout the world. People from North, South and
Central America, and from Europe, Asia and Africa came to the district,
hoping to capture some of the success that had become a legend.

For over a thousand Chinese immigrants, it was Yin Shan, the Silver
Mountain. Irish miners from County Cork, on the other hand, typically saw
Virginia City as a chance to sidestep the oppressive Appalachian coal mines
in favor of a better place to work and a higher wage. Similarly, a modest
number of Spanish-speaking people played an important role in the early
development of the mining district. Samuel Clemens, who invented his Mark
Twain persona while reporting for Virginia City's Territorial Enterprise,
wrote, ".all the peoples of the earth had representative adventurers in
Silver-land." Indeed, the mining district played a pivotal role in
giving Nevada one of the largest percentages of foreign born in the nation
throughout the 19th century.

Still, over half of the Comstock's population was born in North America.
The Northern Paiutes, living in the area for centuries before the arrival of others,
possessed a culture and society that thousands of gold and silver seekers
severely disrupted. Although they confronted oppressive prejudice and
treatment, several hundred American Indians eventually settled around the
mining district, and like others, they found various means to exploit the
many opportunities of the new society. African Americans also came to the
Comstock seeking wealth and opportunity. Many become prosperous,
well-respected business owners. Thousands of Midwesterners, together with
many New Englanders and fewer Southerners, added to the social diversity and
complexity of the place. Together these diverse groups wove the rich tapestry
that made the Comstock the crossroads of the world.

Initially women were rare, but within a few years much of the gender gap
had been bridged. By 1880, one third of the population was under 18 years of
age, underscoring the fact that this had become more of a family-based
community than a stereotypical mining boomtown.

Mining camps throughout the world pass through an evolution of boom,
dramatic growth and excitement, and then decline. The size and nature of each
district's ore body define the duration of prosperity. The Comstock was
remarkable both for the amount of wealth it produced and for the number of
years it was able to thrive. By the early 1880s, it was becoming clear that
the good times were over. It had been years since miners had discovered any
new bonanzas, and thousands of people were leaving for better opportunities.

By the time of the Great Depression of the 1930s, Virginia City had
declined, shrinking into a town of only several hundred people. These
residents became custodians of a remarkable inheritance that included
countless documents and photographs, hundreds of 19th-century buildings, and
abandoned shafts and adits (an almost horizontal entrance to a mine). In
addition, thousands of historic archeological sites are part of the rich
heritage of a remarkable mining district, which the National Park Service recognizes
as one of the larger National Historic Landmarks in the 50 states.